An
Act to make provision for the disclosure of information held by public
authorities or by persons providing services for them and to amend the
Data Protection Act 1998 and the Public Records Act 1958; and for
connected purposes.

[30th
November 2000]

BE
IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the
advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in
this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as
follows:-

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This
guidance details
the role that the Government's Information Asset Register
(IAR) plays within Freedom of Information (FOI)
Publication Schemes and how the IAR can manage some of the
demand that FOI will generate.

Purpose

1.This GuidanceNote explains how the IAR, and
specifically departmental IARs, should contribute usefully to Freedom of
Information Publication Schemes and the broader management of information
requests under FOI.

Background

2.
The Government's decision to create an Information Asset Register (IAR)
was announced in the White Paper The Future Management of Crown Copyright
(Cm 4300, 1999) and was subsequently adopted as a recommendation in the
UKOnline Action Plan. This
initiative responded to widespread frustration by re-users of government
information unable to find material. An IAR policy
steering group supported by Departmental IAR officers have fleshed out the
original proposal to create a working tool that has some 2020 records to
date. Details of the current progress of the IAR can be found in the
latest IAR
Progress Report.

Seminars and Newsletters are produced to keep all those with IAR
responsibilities informed about IAR activity and developments.

3.
The IAR is a catalogue of unpublished information resources that anyone
with web access can search through its web interface inforoute http://www.inforoute.hmso.gov.uk/
in order to identify

what
information the government holds

how
useful that information is, and

importantly,
a contact point to whom requests for the underlying information may be
made; requests would be subject to the Open Government Code and, in
future, the FOI Act.

Users
do not need to know which department may be responsible for a particular
subject. Using the inforoute search engine, they will be able to identify
which department holds information on a particular subject, some
explanations about that information, the format in which it is held and
the contact details within the department.

4.
Each government organisation is responsible for creating the records
within its own departmental information asset register. All these separate
IARs, collectively, form the Government's Information Asset Register.

5.IAR records are created
using a template provided by HMSO. This ensures records are in a
consistent format regardless of their origin and conforms to the
Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) and Government Category List (GCL),
being developed by the Office of the e-Envoy.

7.The Freedom of
Information Act 2000 was passed on 30 November 2000. It gives a general
right of access to recorded information held by public authorities, sets
out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on
government departments amongst other bodies.

8.
Subject to the exemptions, any person who makes a request to a department
for information must be informed whether the department holds that
information and if so, that information must be supplied. In general, a
response must be provided within 20 working days.

9.
Every department will be required to adopt and maintain a Publication
Scheme, by 30 November 2002, setting out how it intends to publish the
information it holds, including:

the
classes of information the department publishes;

the
manner in which the information is published, and;

whether
it is free of charge or on payment.

10.
Where information is already accessible because it is covered by a
department's Publication Scheme, the department will not then be required
to provide the information in response to an individual request. In this
way Publication Schemes should reduce the burden on departments in dealing
with information requests..

12.
The Environmental
Information Regulations 1992 (SI 1992 No. 3240) require the release,
on request, of a wide range of information, including all information on
all aspects of the environment and any activities, measures, plans,
policies, programmes or
decisions likely to affect the environment.

A
Co-ordinated Approach - FOI and IAR

13.Departments are required
to prepare both an IAR and a FOI Publication Scheme. These two initiatives
are complementary.

14.While much departmental
effort has focused on Publication Schemes and the need to meet this first
requirement, it is apparent that FOI and the Environmental Information
Regulations will create a demand for information that may not be covered
by the departmental Publication Schemes. When used appropriately, the IAR
can help to manage the demand for information beyond that which is covered
by the Publication Schemes.

15.Publication Schemes aim
to reduce the number of individual requests by publishing proactively the
information most likely to be requested. However, many information
resources may not be included in Publication Schemes. This may be because
the material could not be made widely available without considerable cost,
or there is thought to be limited interest in it. However, such
information resources should already be included in departmental IARs,
which detail information that may be of interest, yet is not published.

16.
By highlighting the IAR and inforoute within a departmental Publication
Scheme, users will be able to further their enquiry beyond information
that is published. By doing so, it should be possible for users to
identify the department that holds the information they require. This will
eliminate the need for users to make trawling enquiries of a number of
departments and reduce the burden on staff.

17.
Moreover, detailing unpublished information holdings within an IAR allows
and encourages users to make a request for a specific information resource
and will spare departmental effort. The department will also be able to
identify which other department might hold the information requested and
the response to the enquirer can be more helpful and provided much more
quickly. In this way, comprehensive IARs may contribute considerably to
the management of information requests.

18.
Common standards adopted by IAR, such as the e-Envoy's Government Metadata
Standard (GMS) ensure information is presented in a consistent and useful
way that brings benefits for both information users and providers.
Similarly the Government Category List (GCL) provides common terms and
categories across government activity for the benefit of users unfamiliar
with the machinery of government.

19.
When developed appropriately departmental IARs provide a resource beyond
the scope of Publication Schemes to identify information users require. In
this way IARs can further reduce the burden of implementing FOI within
departments.

The
Role of the United Kingdom Official Publications Bibliography

20.
Further guidance on the
arrangements for maintaining the complete catalogue of UK official
publications, enabling search of and access to all official publications,
is set out in the HMSO GuidanceNote No.17 - Maintaining the
Bibliography of UK Official Publications